In LTE (Long Term Evolution, long term evolution) R10, an independent carrier is activated by using the following two steps: configuration and activation. That is, an eNode B (evolved Node B, evolved base station) firstly configures carriers for a UE (User Equipment) by using RRC (Radio Resource Control, radio resource control) signaling, and then activates all or part of carriers by using an MAC CE (Media Access Control Control Element, media access control control element). The UE can receive or transmit data on the activated carriers. FIG. 1 illustrates a format of an MAC CE used to activate or deactivate a carrier, where Ci refers to activation or deactivation of a secondary carrier with an index i. If Ci is set to “1”, it indicates activation; and if Ci is set to “0”, it indicates deactivation. R refers to a reserved bit (bit) and is set to “0”.
It can be seen from the above that, currently, LTE R10 only provides a solution for activating or deactivating an independent carrier. However, besides independent carriers, there are also extended carriers. An extended carrier cannot exist independently but is attached to an independent carrier, and an extended carrier does not carry a synchronization signal, a system message, a paging (paging) message, or the like. The prior art does not provide a corresponding solution for how to activate or deactivate an extended carrier.